She came to pray Monday morning at Adoration Chapel and sensed tears coming on before entering the sanctuary near Holy Family Catholic Church.

“It makes me want to cry,” said Cynthia Lavely, upon learning that Pope Benedict XVI had announced his resignation.

“That’s shocking.”

But as Lavely went inside for daily devotions, she had something more to pray for — the church, its 117 cardinals and the decisions they face in coming weeks to find a successor for the first pope to resign in six centuries.

Lavely’s act of devotion is precisely what Bishop David J. Malloy prescribed Monday for the 105 parishes and 457,000 Catholics in the 11-county Rockford diocese.

“My message to parishes and the faithful through the Diocese of Rockford is to be a spiritual part to what’s happening,” said Malloy, was appointed the diocese’s ninth bishop in March 2012 by Pope Benedict.

“We shouldn’t be just imagining that this is something that’s happening over in Rome,” Malloy said. “We need (this) to be part of our prayer life . . . asking the Holy Spirit to guide the whole process. We believe in the efficacy of prayer, that prayer works.”

Malloy, a former Vatican diplomat and for five years general secretary of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, said he was surprised by the announcement.

“There was no advance notice or whispering,” he said Monday morning during “The Catholic Forum” radio show on WROK. “They really did a good job of keeping this close to the vest.”

When he visited the Vatican with the conference of bishops, Malloy was there merely to assist important churchmen. But he was treated warmly by the pope.

“I remember being the very least of the meeting,” he said. “But every time I got up after the meeting to shake hands it was he who thanked me for coming.”

Benedict’s intellect was a drawing card for a Jo Daviess County priest, who left the Episcopal Church in the mid-1980s for Roman Catholicism.

“I was so impressed by his Christian insightfulness that I was hooked,” said the Rev. Dean Smith of Holy Cross Parish in Stockton, who converted after reading then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger’s book “Journey Towards Easter.”

While his body may have grown frail, he held steadfast to Catholic values, said Connie Eilers of Freeport’s St. Thomas Church.

“In light of lots of pressure and worldly opinions, he held fast to the truth of our faith,” she said.

Benedict’s reign was dogged by scandal in recent years over leaked documents, finances and sexual abuse.

“To say that he’s resigning because the burden of scandal, I find that farfetched,” said Peter Casarella, professor of Catholic studies at DePaul University in Chicago.

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Casarella said he met the man twice, once when he was the monkish German scholar name Ratzinger and again after he had ascended to the papacy, a position he accepted in 2005 but did not seek.

“I met him three years ago on a visit with a delegation from an ecumenical group,” Casarella said. “He looked tired.”

Said Patrick Carey, theology professor at Marquette University in Milwaukee: “He was never very healthy and at 85, he just can’t do it anymore.”

Carey said at this point there’s no clear leader for succession, but he wouldn’t be surprised if a non-European became pope.

“I suspect that no American will be considered,” Carey said. “The church in Africa is growing and it is overloaded with priests in seminaries. That is the future of Catholic growth so that is a possibility. Or an Asian. Or a South American.”

Elaine Parrovechio said she hopes the cardinals choose someone younger.

“I just think that for longevity and some different ideas,” Parrovechio of Rockford said just before noon Monday when she arrived at Adoration Chapel for daily prayer. She planned on praying for Benedict, the first pope to resign since 1415.

“I’m not sad, but I feel badly for him,” said Parrovechio. “A pope has not resigned in 600 years. I’m sure it’s his health.”